The oil that was used to anoint the priests was a symbol of the Holy Spirit by which all God’s people are now ordained to serve as a “royal priesthood”. This anointing oil was “a sacred anointing oil, a fragrant blend, the work of a perfumer” (Exodus 30:25). The recipe is provided in Exodus 30:22-24 and the people were given these strict instructions: “Do not pour it on anyone else’s body and do not make any other oil using the same formula” (Exodus 30:32). The priests, in other words, were to have a distinct smell. This symbol prefigured the effect of the Holy Spirit in lives of Christians today. Paul picks up this symbolism when he says that God “uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing” (2 Corinthians 2:14-15). What you need to be effective for Christian ministry is not “wise and persuasive words, but…a demonstration of the Spirit’s power” working in and through you (1 Corinthians 2:4). When you allow the Holy Spirit to work in you, he will also work through you. When you allow him to fill your heart and move your life, you will smell of it. People will sense the joy and peace of the Holy Spirit in you. And they will meet God through you. “And who is equal,” asks Paul, “to such a task?” The answer: those who are willing to “speak before God with sincerity, as those sent from God” (2 Corinthians 2:17).
Ask God to fill you with his Holy Spirit.
Read Exodus 30:22-33 and 2 Corinthians 2:14-17.
